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Post by Eliza Silvermantle on Aug 21, 2022 4:41:55 GMT
Location: Slipspace, en route to Terran Confederation Colony World Vanaheim aboard Winter-class Prowler TCS Duplicity
Time: 10 August 2978, 0800 ship time
Eliza ate in silence as she listened to David and Callum banter across the table from her, her thoughts primarily on what the mission could be that had prompted the brass to order a Prowler and ODST fireteam of all things to investigate. No doubt they'd be filled in on whatever details at the briefing after breakfast. Though she'd not seen actual military action in centuries, her experiences as a bounty hunter had given her at least a degree of insight regarding the possible mission tasks, and the ones that came to mind that would fit being so far out of the way sat poorly with the Witch.
"Lockheed, you alright? You look like you're struggling with a shit," Callum quipped, drawing an extended middle finger from Eliza while she swallowed her food.
"Dammit, MacIntyre, tryin' ta make me choke or somethin'?" she grumbled, though a faint smile at the edge of her lips indicated she'd taken the joke in stride. Though she was accustomed to working alone, the squad she'd been assigned to had proven to be friendly, even familial, though she still struggled to remain calm near her commander or his fellow Jiralhanae in Havok Squad, Tacitus.
"That's a possibility," the comms specialist replied with a smirk.
"No. Jist no. And jist thinkin' about possible scenarios we might be gannin into," she answered before turning her head towards the doors to the dining room, which had just opened to admit the rest of Havok Squad, including the dominating presences of Mauk and Tacitus.
"Alright people, finish up and let's get moving!" Mauk called to the trio at the table. "Briefing room in ten minutes!"
"Hey, Lockheed, why do you always tense up whenever the LT's nearby?" Callum asked quietly as they made their way towards the briefing room.
"Long story. Nothin' against him, jist some things I need ta work out," Eliza explained. "If ye really wanna know, I'll tell ye after th' mission."
"Huh. Alright..? Bit more mysterious than I was expecting, not gonna lie," the sergeant admitted with a slightly baffled expression.
"Ye should see my personnel file," she chuckled before tapping the control for the door.
Inside the room, Mauk, Tacitus, and Allen were already present, awaiting the other five members of the squad, who each filed in after Eliza without another word.
"Ah, good, everyone here, then," Mauk began as he activated a holomap of their destination, Vanaheim. "We all heard the initial orders and read the packet on what sort of place Vanaheim is, so I'm not going to waste time explaining that. What's got command concerned enough to send us out there is the fact that the listening post located on the outer edges of the system picked up hostile pings, then went silent, but we've still gotten signal traffic intermittently from the colony itself. Given Kromus methods, that doesn't add up with what we know about them, so either they're changing tactics, or there's another group we need to address, and we're going in to find out what. That said, we are not to engage if it can be avoided," he emphasized. "It's just us, so unless you all think we can take on an entire ship or two, I don't think I need to remind any of you what a bad idea that would be. So, we go in, take a look around, retrieve any data we can, and get back to base for the brass to decide what to do. Any questions?"
A few exchanged glances, then shook their heads or answered negatively. It seemed straightforward enough, after all. And yet, Eliza couldn't help but feel as if something didn't quite add up. Even so, she said nothing, and after another few moments, Mauk gave a short nod.
"We should be arriving in-system in 2 hours. Everyone needs to be suited up by then. Dismissed!"
With that, the fireteam rose from their respective seats and began to file out. Eliza winced as she started towards the doorway before her vision swam, then faded entirely, replaced by a strange and unnerving sight, a towering pillar over a desolate flat landscape bathed in the eerie light of a constellation the Witch had never seen before. A voice that was not a voice echoed within her mind, briefly sparking memories of the hellish vessel once known as the Event Horizon, imparting a final message before fading, leaving Eliza breathing heavily as she held herself up against the bulkhead.
“To you, we offer the Ultimate Power. You need only to claim it.”
"Lockheed, are you alright?" Allen asked as he approached the slender woman, visibly concerned for the newest member of the fireteam.
Eliza blinked several times, regaining her bearings, then nodded. "Aye, Sergeant, jist lemme have Franklin give me a once-over, aye? Might have some additional intel ta provide, assumin' I'm na havin' a sudden bout of crazy."
"What do you mean?" he questioned.
"Ye've been briefed on my more..esoteric skill sets, aye? Pretty sure I jist had an actual vision, complete wi specific coordinates. Somethin' ta pass on after we're done here."
"Lockheed, I'm going to be real honest with you right now, if I hadn't read your mission reports and verified them against the intel that was brought back from them, I'd be this far from sidelining you for this mission. As it stands, yes, I understand you dip into some fucky shit, but one mission at a time. Understood?"
"Aye, Sergeant. Jist thought ye'd want ta be in th' loop in case more comes of this. I'll get ye those coordinates after I've gotten suited up, if ye like."
"Make sure your head's still screwed on straight, but after, yeah, do that. I don't need another of my people getting dead."
Eliza gave a curt nod, then made her way to the small medbay aboard the Duplicity, still wondering silently just what could have contacted her so forcefully and across such distances. That alone made her wary, nearly as much as the fact that she seemed to have the coordinates burned into her mind indelibly, unable to be forgotten even if she wanted to.
Two hours later...
The trip to see Lance Corporal David Franklin proved to be as uneventful as Eliza had expected, proving at the very least that for all her quirks, she still had a firm grasp on reality. What hadn't been expected was the entire Kromus battle group positioned over what appeared to be a remarkably unglassed Vanaheim. Thus far, there had been no indications that they'd been detected, though Eliza scarecely felt all that reassured. With such a force nearby, they couldn't afford to attempt to make contact with anyone planetside short of landing, and she was quite certain the rest of her teammates knew that.
"Well then, ladies and gentlemen..and Tacitus," Mauk remarked as he lifted his helmet to don it. "Looks like we get to play a little game of hide and don't get found. Lockheed."
"Aye, sir?" Eliza questioned, strangely comforted by the Jiralhanae's less obvious appearance while in his BDU.
"You're intel and as I understand it, your armor can manage stealth operations far longer than ours. You're taking point, here. The less time we take to find out what in the hells is going on here, the better."
"Understood. Regardin' locals, if I have opportunity ta question them on th' situation?" Eliza inquired.
"If you believe you can learn anything useful without giving away our presence, do it. I leave that to your discretion. The rest of us are going to secure the landing site and try to avoid being detected. Once you've gone, you have 12 hours to learn what you can and report back in person. Any questions?"
"None, sir. I understand. Recon th' area, learn as much as possible about th' Kromus presence in-system, prioritize secrecy, and return back in 12 hours."
"Good. Now let's get dirtside," Mauk answered as he sat in the oversized pilot's chair customized specifically with his mass in mind.
As it turned out, Eliza needn't have worried about being discovered en route to the planet's surface, in large part because it didn't seem like the Kromus in the area were particularly focused on something as small as a Prowler. Mauk had landed the Duplicity several miles outside of a small city, and while there were signs of having been a conflict, there was very little in the way of large-scale plasma bombardment to be seen even from orbit. As Eliza made her way through the city, hidden with her chameleon-like stealth system, she began to uncover why that was. Far from being a general assault on the human-held world, it seemed that the Kromus had taken the role of occupiers, and more strangely still, had been uncharacteristically restrained about the matter. Five hours after departing the Prowler, the intelligennce specialist found herself seated across a table from the city's head of law enforcement, and as she idly chewed on a piece of well-seasoned local avian, she listened to the man's account.
"So, you're new, yes?" the police chief, named Mathias, guessed.
"Aye, jist lookin' about, really. Was wonderin' about that Kromus fleet. Seems a bit odd that everyone's still alive and all."
"Ah, yes. Well, it's hardly a secret, least here. They showed up a few months back, took out the long-range warning sensor array and jammed hypercomms systems, so we couldn't really call for any sort of reinforcements. Turns out, lucky for us, they didn't actually wanna kill us all."
"No? I saw signs of battle on th' way in," Eliza interjected.
"Oh sure, but those were just a few surgical strikes against the planetary defense headquarters installations. Once they disarmed us so we wouldn't be able to fight back, they offered the chance to surrender in exchange for sharing the system. Not really much of a choice, I'll admit, but those terms are downright generous compared to what we usually hear about from them. Anyway, there's been a few public addresses by the victorious Kromus leader, I forget his name, and it's some jawcracker of a name, too, but the fighting's pretty much over, aside from a few salty militia types. Life goes on, though, and we've taken on a fair few Kromus, largely in the cities like the capital over in New Helsinki."
"And that's it?" the Witch wondered.
"Well, there's a more insular bunch that's taken to delving out a grand old warren under some of the mountain ranges. Lotta rumors floating around as to why these buggers are so much more different, but best anyone actually knows for sure, this bunch is from a different neighborhood than the lot we've been fighting. Talked to a few of the military types when they've come by, they mentioned something about another species, damned tough, and aggressive as anything we've ever seen. Think they called them Kriken or some such. Out towards a region they called the Alimbic Cluster. Not really an astronavigator, so couldn't rightly tell you where that is, but if you're trying to find out what these Kromus are doing here, and you're not willing to ask them yourself, I'd try figuring out where that is and check there."
"I see.." Eliza replied, thinking back to the coordinates etched into her mind. "Well, ye've been a gracious host, and more than slightly helpful wi yer information. If ye're in regular contact wi this faction of Kromus, and they know I'm here, ye can let them know I've no hostile intent towards them. I'm jist one woman, after all."
"You're still military, though. Don't think I didn't notice the grade of gear you're toting around."
"Trust me, this is armor I made myself," she replied. "Besides, I'm na gannin ta make a promise I've no authorization ta keep. That is gannin ta be my recommendation. We canna afford ta spare resources this far out fer na a threat. Who knows? Might end th' war faster. Worked wi th' Kilrathi and Covenant way back when."
"Heh. That's a fair point. Well, you take care of yourself, ma'am."
"Aye. Ye as well," Eliza answered as she pulled on her helmet, then started off out of the city to rejoin her team and recount what she'd learned.
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